Hotel Artemis (2018) – Film Review
“An original idea, executed magnificently by a debut director, Hotel Artemis shocked and surprised me. “I got to thinking, about half-way through the film, this could’ve been based on a short-story. The contained setting, introductions to and naming of the different characters, simple set-up and straightforward premise all spell out an idea that grew from a single point of inspiration. Not once while watching this did I get a whiff of the filmmakers ripping off any other crime drama I’ve seen, nor that any bit of it was recycled from another ne’er-do-wells story.
First of all, hats off to the sound design and VFX departments. In creating the mood for the Hotel, multiple layers of sound—both in-story and out—are expertly melded. We have atmospheric noises from the rioting Hell that is the outside world, along with all the subtleties of all inside. All this put together gives the audience a real and consistent taste of the world: Tense, on the brink of collapse all around the Hotel, while also retaining the gravitas of the events going on within. The usage of tech familiar to us today—to the point where the prop guys may have just had to run down the street to a local co-op, or build contraptions intricate enough to look operational—makes the world the film builds believable, while still able to belong to the 2028 setting we’re told about in the opening. We don’t have to imagine too much, or have too much explained to us, because it’s all tangible—or, at least, has present-day parallels.
In crafting the look of the Hotel, the set designers and art department got every detail. Outside the Hotel interior, it’s dark, dingy, a right apocalypse. However, what and who we truly care about are inside the Hotel walls; the vaguely-1920s aesthetic of the place, coupled with the technological bits, make for a unique playground for our various elements.
Nothing was hard to follow, here, and, even though the film moves at a pretty healthy clip, the characters are each memorable in their own right, coming away (again, I’m going to skimp on the filmographies—fans will know who these people are).
Jodie Foster never seems to get tiresome; her role here is as central as it can be—like a motherly anchor to all the others, her “patients”—while also tender and in need of support, when certain, long-buried truths come to light. Dave Bautista’s character is great, offering up yucks as often as he dishes out a whooping. Same with Sofia Boutella—she gets to be the badass she wasn’t able to in The Mummy, but gives off that sexy-sly aura that I raved about upon first viewing her in Kingsman. There’s one scene of hers, towards the end of the film, that just makes me so hopeful for her to continue her action career! I should catch up on Atomic Blonde… Sterling K. Brown wasn’t so much a surprise, for me, as he was just well-cast; his arc is a little on the stingy side, but…he’s a criminal—it’s kind of their whole gag. He doesn’t do too much, as far as cracking jaws go, but his character is more wholesome than that, not as hardened into “the business” as Boutella or Charlie Day’s characters. Jeff Goldblum as the villain of villains is cool, but not as central to the plot as I’d hoped; thought there would be some kind of Big Bad Wolf style stand-off, based on the trailers, but what we get of him is neat. He can really do sinister, and I’d love to see more of that, going forward (though, maybe not in the upcoming Jurassic World sequel…). Did not expect Jenny Slate to make an appearance, but I’ll never gripe about her showing her face—even briefly—in a given film. Can’t wait to see what she brings to the table in this fall’s Venom.
The soundtrack is awesome. Director Drew Pearce (writ. Iron Man 3, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) spent that allotment of the budget well, and dishes out some unique selections. They each fit their respective scenes, though, making the hefty action scenes stand out, while emphasizing the emotion in the slower ones. The action scenes, themselves, are brutal. During that tantalizing scene of Boutella’s that I mentioned, towards the end of the film, she’s splattering guys left and right, while also taking quite a beating, herself. With its R-rating, Artemis is not at all squeamish about its gore factor; in one sequence, a guy gets his neck split wide-open—in full-view of the camera!
An original idea, executed magnificently by a debut director, Hotel Artemis shocked and surprised me. Simple in its set-up and story, but better for it, exposition is nigh-invisible. What we have is an entertaining and action-packed, character-driven thrill-ride that goes right up until the pan away and sharp cut to black.
Final ‘Risk Assessment: *****/. A crazy-original piece that defied all my expectations.
Next review: Hereditary
